Process for converting halides to esters



United States Patent 3,239,557 PROCESS FOR CONVERTING HALIDES TO ESTERS Ross Wade Fasiclr, Wilmington, Del., assignor to E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, Del.,

a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Filed Jan. 18, 1962, Ser. No. 167,151 4 Claims. (Cl. 260486) This invention is directed to a process for converting halides havin gthe structure RfCHzCHZY (Y=Br or I) to esters having the structure R CH CHO CR.

The halides RfCHZCHzY are readily available. This series of compounds forms a potentially valuable series of intermediates it suitable means can be provided for converting them to other, useful products. One such type of product is the corresponding esters R CH CH O CR. A method has been described for converting these halides to esters which involves reaction with a metal carboxylate, using the corresponding acid as solvent. While useful to some extent for preparing esters of saturated esters, the process is limited in its use for preparing unsaturated esters of the acrylic type by the polymerization of both the ester products and the unsaturated acid solvent during the reaction. Addition of polymerization inhibitors, e.g. hydroquinone, alleviates this disadvantage to some extent but yield losses to polymers remain prohibitively high.

Another known method for converting the halides to esters involves reaction with the silver salt of the acid. While yields are, in some cases, good, the reaction is slow and the expense of reconverting the product silver halide to a useful form of silver makes the process economically unattractive. Naturally silver is too expensive not to recover and reuse.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a novel process for converting halides having the structure RfCH2CH2Y to esters having the structure Y is Br or I. It is another object to provide such a process which gives the esters in significantly high yields. It is still another such object to provide a novel process which uses relatively inexpensive reagents, said process being one which does not cause unsaturated esters to polymerize. A still further object is to provide significantly useful esters. These and other objects will become evident hereinafter.

More specifically, the present invention is directed to a novel process for converting halides having the structure X(C,,F )CH CH Y to esters having the structure Z(C F )CI-I CH O CR wherein X is fluorine or -CH CH Y, Y is bromine or iodine, Z is fluorine or RCO CH CH the radical 'RCO is the residue of a hydrocarbon mono or polycarboxylic organic acid free of nucleophilic substituents and n is from one to about 16; said process comprising heating the halides with alkali metal carboxylates MO CR in an anhydrous monohydric alcoholic solvent having a dielectric constant of less than about 17.5 at 25 C., at a reaction temperature of from about 125 to about 200 C. for from about one to about 30 hours under autogenous pressure and recovering the ester Z(C F )CH CH O CR from the reaction mixture; M is an alkali metal as hereinafter described and claimed.

For the purposes of this invention, a nucleophilic substituent is one that reacts with an organic molecule containing a displaceable substituent by either direct displacement of the group as a stable molecule or anion or by hydrogen abstraction from a carbon adjacent to that bearing the displaceable substituent with subsequent loss of 3,239,557 Patented Mar. 8, 1966 ICC the group as a stable molecule or anion. In the former case, the substituent becomes attached to the organic molecule while in the latter the organic molecule is converted to an olefin. Examples of nucleophilic substituents are amino groups, me-rcapto and sulfide groups, and the anions of alcohols, phenols and mercaptans.

The novel process of the present invention consists in reacting the halides X(C F )CH CH Y (Y=Br or I) with alkali metal salts of organic, mono and polycarboxylic acids to form esters Z(C,,F )CH CI-I O CR. The halides X(C,,F )CH CH Y differ from the other Well known perfiuoroalkyl halides C F Y and in that they show a strong tendency to dehydrohalogenate to olefins in the presence of nucleophilic reagents, i.e. to X(C F )CH=CH whereas the others cannot. The halides X(C F )CH CI-I Y also differ from ordinary alkyl halides C I-I CH CH Y in that the former dehydrohalogenate much more readily than do the latter. For example, ethyl and butyl iodides react with the strongly nucleophilic trimethyl, triethyl and tributyl amines to form the corresponding ammonium salts whereas the iodides X(C Fg )CH2CH2I react to form the olefins X(C F )CH=CH The iodides C F and do not react at all. For this reason, it is difiicult to cause the halides X(C,,'F )CH CH Y to undergo displacement reactions with alkali metal carboxylates. The art methods for alkyl halides, i.e. using lower alcohols, tetrahydrofuran, water or dimethylformamide as solvents, result in large proportions of the halides being converted to olefins. This is illustrated in the representative examples which follow. It has been discovered however that if the reaction is carried out in a monohydric alcohol which has a dielectric constant of less than about 17.5 at 25 C., olefin is not formed or is formed only to a very minor extent. This is distinctly contrary to what would be expected on theoretical grounds which predict that more olefin would be formed in solvents of lower dielectric constant (see, for example, Ingold, Structure and Mechanism in Organic Chemistry, Cornell University Press, 1953, Ithaca '.Y., chapter VIII, p. 453.).

Experience has shown that the reaction of the halides X(C F )CH CH Y with alkali metal salts of unsaturated acids, e.g. acrylic, methacrylic or like acids, using the corresponding acid as the solvent results, when carried out at higher temperatures, in a large proportion of the resulting product being polymeric in nature. This is highly undesirable, even if the esters are intended for preparing polymers ultimately, because there is no control over the nature of the polymer. The use of polymerization inhibitors does not solve this problem. The use of acids corresponding to the salts as solvents suffers from a second defect, namely it is limited to those acids which are liquid under the reaction conditions. Also, many acids, particularly the polybasic types, can not be heated when highly concentrated because they tend to form anhydrides and water. The use of acids also presents a corrosion problem, thus limiting the type of equipment which can be employed.

The present novel process is carried out by heating a mixture, generally a solution, of the halide an alkali metal mono or polycarboxylate and the alcohol solvent at from to about 200 C. for from one to about 30 hours under autogenous pressure and recovering the ester from the reaction mixture. The halide X(C F )CH CH Y may contain from three to about 18 carbons. Although all values of n are useful in the present 3' process, the preferred species, based on utility of the resulting products, are those where n is from 3 to about 14. Typical starting halides include CF CH CH I,

the practice of the present invention are those which contain branched-chain alkyl groups, e.g.=

(CF CF (P CH CH I or Br (CF 0F (CF CH CH I or Br (CF CF (CF CH CH I or Br Additional polyfluoroalkyl halides which may be used in a this invention have the formula H(CF CF CH CI-I I and Br, Cl(CF CF CH CH I and Br and Br(CF CF -CH CH I and Br. The physical the useful starting materials follows:

properties of some of V The iodides F(C F )CH CH I are prepared by the method of Haszeldine et al.,-'J. Chem. Soc., 2856 (1949);". 3041 (1950), and Park et al. J. Org. Chem., 23, 1166 (1958), i.e. by thermal or photo-chemical addition of F(C F )I to ethylene. 'Various' types of iodides F(C F )I- are prepared by the methods of -Haszeldine, Nature, 167, 139 (1951); Hauptschein et al.', JACS, 79, 2549 (1957) or Lazerete et al., Canadian Patent 583,873 The iodides ICH CH (C FQh) CH CH I are available by the reaction of I(C F )I with ethylene according to the methods of Brace (S.N. 90,911, filed February '23, 1961 and SN. S7,3 88,filed September 21, 1960, allowed June 9,1961). T e iodides g of mixtures is muchless desirable.

V V 4 r. are available by the method are availablejby the :methodof iSmeltZ (S.N.\ 36,706, filed June 17,1960), by addition of F(C,,F )Br and Br(C F )Br to ethylene. The starting bromides F(C, F )Br-, and vBr(C F Br. are available by thev methods of Hauptschein 'et al., JACS} .851 (1958) or Lazerte supra.

The alkali metal carboxylatesiwhich'may. beused 111 the practice of the present invention, are usuallythe lithium, sodium or potassium salts: Therubidium and cesiumsaltscan beused but they are more CXPfillSlVfir The acids must be .free r of :nucleophilic substituents.

Thus, they must be free of mercapto,.sulfide and amino groups as well as the salts ofalcohols, mercapta'ns' and phenol groups. Other less common nucleophilic groups such as phosphino, arsin'oiand the: like should also be absent; Nitrogen heterocyclic .componnds should. also be absent. Nitrogen 'heteroc'yclie, compounds contain-: ing basic nitrogen should also be" absent, e.g.' ,deriva'tives of'pyridine and its relatives. Salts of the following acids azelic, sebacic, ma1e-ic,. fumaric,. citraconic,- .benzoic;

nitrohenzoic, napthoi c f phenylacetic, naphthylacetic," phthalic, isophthalic, terphthalicp chlorobenzoic, toluic,v cinnamic,,trime1litic, trimesic,:pyrometallic, .naphthalic (1,4 and 1,8) and the like.,. Of-this group; the alkali:

metal salts, and particularly the potassium salts, of acrylic and methacrylic. acids are preferred. since they lead to the more valuable .esters.

The alcohols which are useful as solvents must-have a dielectric constant o'f-less than about 17.5 ,at 2510;

This group includes: n-amyl, n-hexyl-,.n-octyl, sec.butyi,- n-butyl, isobutyl, tert-butyl', isoamyl, Iter t.-amy1, n-heptyl',v benzyl, alpha-phenylethyl,ubeta-phenylethyl. n-nonyil,

n-decy1,. n-dodecyl, n-tetradecyl, cetyl, and octadecyl alcohols as well as 2-heptanol; 3-heptanol,,4-heptanol,

.2-pentanol, 3-pentanol; ?3-met.hylpentanol-3, cyclohe'xanol,

triethylcarbinol, 2-, 3- and.4-methyl-l-cyclohexanols, 2-; 3- and 4-octanols, 2-, 3-, -4-, 5- and 6-r'nethyl-1-heptanols,

naphthol, 2-ethyl-l-hexanol and the 1 like, .All of :the above have dielectricconstants of lessathan 17.5 to 2.5?C.

The: tertiary alcohols of the group: :and' particularly tertiary amyl alcohol are preferred. 'Mixtures of these alcohols with: the organic acidsinvolvedcanbe used, provided. 7 17.5,"but tl1ef uSeH the dielectric constant "remains below Asnoted heretofore,.when-the die-lectric constanb is below 175, little ornoqolefin isif'ormed as aby-p'rodu'ctr:v

If an alcoholic solvent having a dielectric constant higher yields betterv than 80%. Example y shows that ethanol, which has adielectric:constant greater than 17.5 gives only 2.50% yield Example ;V also shows that; the di-f electric. constant consideration: only. applies to, alcohols since tetrahydrofuran, with a 'very low dielectric constant; gives averypoor yield? The reaction is carried-out at; ltO-2Q0? C., ,usually i under autogenous pressure. n Dependingon the particularstarting materials: and solvents:usedfthelpressure may or:

may not begreater than one atmosphere. In general, and particul-arly with the preferred solvent tertiary amyli alcohol, the reaction pressure will exceedvo n'e -atmosaphere. Whenthis is the icase,;the,reaction must be C313 of jHaszeldine, Nature supra. 'The bromides F (C F )CH CH Br and.

ried out in a sealed vessel. The reaction takes from one to 30 hours depending on the particular alkali metal oarboxylate, temperature and solvent used. It is necessary to determine the optimum reaction conditions for In general, it is best to avoid reac- 6 The product ester,

CF3 :CH2 had a boiling point of 118122 C. at 4.0 mm. Hg pressure. The olefin by-product, CF (CF CH=CH had any articular case. tion :imes and temperatures which are any greater than 5 a bolhng Point of 145450 at 760 necessary, d Example 11 It is necessary that the present invention be carrie out under anhydrous conditions. For this reason, react- Thls i i Illustrates a pmferred embodlment of the ants and solvents should be thoroughly dried before use. present .mvennon' If Water is t th t th H d f A mixture of 7.2 parts of 1H,1H,2H,2H- heptadecaprFsen m e reaclon i 6 ye O fiuoro-l-lododecane 3.4 parts of anh potassium methdeslred ester is severely decreased with concurrent formation of increased amounts of undesired olefin and other acrylate of hydroquinone and 25 parts of Products agnyldalcohol,h ciclelectlgc C(grlsfilflt 15.68 at 251 C., was

pace lnasaeruewlc wassumerge manor g: 35332 g i ggi fi 82 23 a smgle 15 bath and heated for two hours at 200 C. The potassium g i 3 2 7 2 2 iodide was removed by filtration and the filtrate distilled ICH2CH2(QF2) 01-1 01-1 1 to give an 87% yield of the ester or with mixtures of halides, e.g. CF (OF )-,CH CH I, 3( 2)7 2 2 2 3) 2 CF3(OF2)5CH2CHZI and Q 2 Q 2 2 For The conversion of the iodide was 95 many uses of the product esters, partlcularly when preparing unsaturated esters which are useful for preparing Example 111 oil and water repellents, mixtures of esters can be used A mixture of 35.5 parts of lH,1H,2H,2H-tridecafluoroa d d t b separated, l-iodo-octane, 27.1 parts of sodium benzoate and 200 The present process may be carried out in any conparts of tert. amyl alcohol was heated for 2 hours at 180 venient apparatus; the two requirements are that the C. Filtration of the reaction mixture and analysis of the equipment can supply the required heat and withstand product indicated that the benzoate ester the pressures developed. Batch autoclaves, sealed ressure vessels such as shaker tubes, continuously fed grescsHscQzcHzcflflcFzhclis sure autoclaves and the like are all useful. Removal of was formedlln 85% yleld at 48% converslon of the Iodide the insoluble alkali metal iodide or bromide formed is Example IV i'i out i StaPdard m t either filmrs or A mixture of 7.2 parts of lH,lH,2H,2H-heptadecafluocentrifuges Dlsunatlon W111 require In many cases ro-l-iododecane, 3.7 parts of anh. lithium methacrylate, use of Pressurer 0.1 part of hydroquinone and 25 parts of tert. amyl alco- The welds of esters Obtamsd from the present p s 30 hol was heated at 140 c. for 6 hours. Distillation, after When P P Y used, exceed 80% and Often Thls removal of lithium iodide by filtration, gave an 81% unexpected improvement in yield is marked over that yield f th ester CF (CF cH CH O CC(CH ):C1-I obtained using art methods as will be demonstrated in The conversion of the iodide was 79%. the following examples. The examples are meant to A mixture of 7.2 parts of the same iodide as above, illustrate the invention but not to limit the scope thereof. 40 43 parts of anh. sodium methacrylate, 0.1 part of hydro- Several of the examples are given to show the impro-veqllinone and 25 P2111ts 0f y alcohol Was heat d at ment the present process oiiers over the methods taught for 6 hollfs- The Yield of the ester WA 8 at by the art. All parts are by weight unless indicated 94% Conversionof theiodideotherwise. A polymerization inhibitor is used with r Example V acrylic type to Prawnt Polymerization It is A mixture of 7.2 parts of the iodide used in Example necessary otherwise. I IV, 3.4 parts of anh. potassium methacrylate, 0.1 part of Representatlve examples ll-lustratlng the present lnvenh d i and 25 parts f one of h solvents shown tlon follow. below was heated with the results shown below.

Dielectric Reaction Reaction Conver- Yield of Solvent Constant Temp., Time, sion of Ester,

at 25 C. hr. Halide, Percent Percent gi$igidi6ifiiaHII 31% it; S 533 23 Dlmethylformamlde 37. 6 135 100 26 Example I Example V demonstrates two things. First, alcohols A mixture of 72 Parts of1H,1,H,2H2H heptadecafluO having dielectric constants greater than 17.5 at 25 C. roddododecane 3A parts of potassium methacry g ve poor yields of ester even though the halide converlate 1 part f h d i d 25 parts f one f s1on is high. In other words, conversion to olefin is also h l h l Shown was l d i a h k t b hi h high. Second, other common solvents used for converting was submerged in oil and heated. The potassium iodide haloalkanes to esters are frequently not useful even though was then removed by filtration and the product distilled. they may have low dielectric constants (tetrahydro- The results follow. furan=7.39).

Dielectric Reaction Reaction Conver- Yield of Solvent Constant Temp., Time, hr. sion of Ester,

at 25 C. G. Iodide, Percent Percent n-Amyl Alcohol". 14. 4 175 2 96 83 l-Hexanol 12. 5 135 9. 5 91 l-Octmlol 9. 8 9. 5 93 91 purpose.

Example VI a A mixture of 50 parts of 1H,1H,2H,2H'-tridecafluoro-" l-iodo octane, 2 6'parts of anh. potassium -meth acrylate,i one part of p-methoxyphenyl and 80 parts of glacial meth.

acrylic acid was heated for 6 hours at 180 C. in a pressure vessel. The reaction mass was a thick, viscous, molasses-like liquid containing some salt. Very little monorneric material could be recovered. The solvent and product Were partially polymerized.

Example VII A mixture of 907 parts of a mixture comprising 43% (all by weight), 372 parts of anh. potassium methacrylate and 1500 parts of tert. amyl alcohol washeated in a stirred autoclave for 7 hours at 170 C. Filtration and distillation'of the reaction mixture gave 690 parts of methacrylate mixture boiling between 70150 C; at 10 mm. Hg pressure; The yield was 81% It is, of course, understtood that. any of the previously mentioned halides X(C F )CH CH Y can be substituted in Examples I, II, III, IV and VII to provide. equivalent high yields of useful esters.

Applicants novel process is one whereby all types of acids can be convertedto esters of the type this is not true for the prior art methods as described; it utilizes relatively inexpensive reagents which need not be recovered (no silver). Also, the reaction is more rapid than those disclosed in the art in addition to providing significantly useful esters. T heseesters have a variety of uses, depending on their type.. For example, unsaturated esters are useful for preparing oil and water repellents. The Inethacrylate esters F CF CH OH O CC(CH =CH where n is from 6 to 12 are particularly useful for this lysts to polymers which impart oil and water repellency to textiles and the like, particularly when they are applied as mixtures with non-fluorinated methacrylate polymers.

They are applied in the same manner asthe compositions.

of US. Patent 2,803,615.

Saturated esters have a variety of uses.v For example,-

they can be used as solvents or reaction media. They can also be hydrolyzed to the corresponding alcohols larly "aromatic .polyacids'such. as phthalic, trimellitic,

They are polymerized with free radical catapyromellitic and thelike, are seful; as-hi'ghiboiling stable fluids for use as lubricants, hydraulic, fluids andthe like. The preceding representative examples: may be varied. Within thesco'pe .of the present totalspecification dis-.

closure, as understood and. practiced, to achieve-essem .tially the same-results. A 7

As many apparently widely different embodiments of.

this invention may be made withoutdeparting'from the spirit and scope thereof,- itzis to be understood thatthis inventionis not limited to the specific embodiments there-. of except as definedin the appended claims.-

The, embodiments; of the, invention in which. an "exclue sive property. oriprivilegeis claimed are defined'as. follows:

1. Av process for converting .halides having the' struc- V member selected from the group consisting of hydrocarbon monoand polycarboxylic organic acids: free of'sub-I stituentsr-and n is from one to about 16; said process-com; prisingheating, under anhydrous conditions',-the halides" X (C F ,,)CH CH 'Y with' alkali metal carboxyla-tes; of the formula MO CR, RCO has, the same meaning as heretofore set forth, in an anhydrousjunsubstituted monow hydric hydrocarbon alcohol as solvent, said alcohol havw a ing a dielectric constant of less'th'an about 117.5 at:25-' I C., at a reaction temperature of from about-? to about 200 C:, for from aboutone to about 30 hours under antogenous pressure and recovering theester 1 Z(C, F CH OH O CR from the reaction mixture; M is an alkali metal.

2., A- process accordinglto claim 1 in which process the n is fr-om'6 tol2.

3., A process according to.claim 1 %.wherein the; alkali metal carboxylate MO'QOR is potassium-methacrylate.

4. A process according. to claim 1 whcreinthe solvent is tert.-amyl alcohol.

References. Cited by the Examiner UNITED? STATES PATENTS f 2,275,466

OTHER 1; REFERENCES l i Pierce an; J.A.'C.VS.-75', 5618-5620 1953 LORRAINE Awemeeaoaa, Prima ry'Examiner.

TOBIASJEL LEVOW, LEON: ztrvaarx miners,

3/19421Pollack'etah. 260--486 2,617,820 11/1952 'Ga'mrath et-al. 260.475 7 

1. A PROCESS FOR CONVERTING HALIDES HAVING THE STRUCTURE X(CNF2N)CH2CH2Y TO ESTERS HAVING THE STRUCTURE Z(CNF2N)CHICH2O2CR WHEREIN X IS SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF FLUORINE AND -CH2CH2Y, Y IS SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF BROMINE AND IODINE, Z IS SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF FLUORINE AND RCO2CH2CH2-; THE RADICAL RCO2- IS THE RESIDUE OF A MEMBER SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBON MONO- AND POLYCARBOXYLIC ORANIC ACIDS FREE OF SUBSTITUENTS AND N IS FROM ONE TO ABOUT 16; SAID PROCESS COMPRISING HEATING, UNDER ANHYDROUS CONDITIONS, THE HALIDES X(CNF2N)CH2CH2Y WITH ALKALI METAL CARBOXYLATES OF THE FORMULA MO2CR, RCO2- HAS THE SAME MEANING AS HERETOFORE SET FORTH, IN AN ANHYDROUS UNSUBSTITUTED MONOHYDRIC HYDROCARBON ALCOHOL AS SOLVENT, SAID ALCOHOL HAVING A DIELECTRIC ONSTANT OF LESS THAN ABOUT 17.5 AT 25* C., AT A REACTION TEMPERATURE OF FROM ABOUT 125* TO ABOUT 200*C., FOR FROM ABOUT ONE TO ABOUT 30 HOUS UNDER SUTOGENOUS PRESSURE AND RECOVERING THE ESTER 